Container



Mrch 19, 1929. E.4 w. SCHELLENTRAGR 1,705,502

K CONTAINER VIBRATING MEANS AND METHOD Filed. Aug. 26, 1927 PatentedMar. 19, 1929.

iran 'slr CONTAINER-VIBRATING MEANS AND METHOD.

Application filed August 26, 1927. Serial No. 215,623.

My invention relates to means and methods for facilitating the dischargeof material from containers.

One of the objects of'my invention is a simple and inexpensive means andmethod to facilitate the discharge of material from containers in themost convenient and economical mannen Other objects, contributory orotherwise, will appear, or become apparent or obvious, or will suggestthemselves during the description of the devices shown on theaccompanying drawing and the method inherent therein.

In manyinstances, material must be conveyedfrom one place. to anotherand containers or hoppers or other similardevices are used for suchpurposes. In many instances, the walls of the containers must bemade-sloping or inclined and thematerial sticksvor adheres to the wallskand does not discharge readily from the container.

' Some materials. may stick or adhere to the walls of `containers whenthey get wet durf ing transportation or otherwise; other materials maybeinherently sticky; other materials may become sticky byl heat; othermaterials may be affected in other manners or yby other causes andbecome sticky thereby; other materials may pack. In such instances,theparticles of the material stick togetheror stick to the walls ofthecontainers and must be movedand'loosenedfrom the walls when it isdesired to discharge the material from containers.

. In a coal car or larry for coke ovens for instance, one or morecontainers or hoppers are. first filled with powdered or granulated coaland the car is then run or conveyed over.

the top ofthe oven to the charging openings 40 in the top of the oven.The top of the ovensis always hot and heats the car and the containers'thereon and the coal in the containers. This heating'causes aftar likes ulo-V stance to be drawn out ofthe coal particles and this substancecauses the coal particles to stick together as well as to stick yto thewalls of the'containers and thereby prevents the coalfrom dischargingreadily from the containers and requires some means to facilitate thisdischarge or to effect this discharge.

Manually operated means, such'as pound-` ing'and scraping andfthe'like,were priorlyl used to facilitate this dischargeand to clean the walls ofcontainers but such means are y,

inconvenient and expensive. Many other in-f' stances could be rc itedwhere suchstickingv tainers, attempts have been made to slope or inclinethe walls of tapered containers suiiiciently to prevent Ythe same fromholding Vthe material in the containers but such procedure. is notsatisfactory since it results in javery high and/or very long containerwhich is undesirable and inconvenient. andA expensive and Vnotpermissible in many in-l stances and does not prevent the material,

pneumatically operated vibratormechanism. n

in place of the former spring or electrically operated'. vibrators sincethe' hammer ofy pneumatically operatedvibrators strikes a sharpanddecisive and powerful blow' against an object and then recedes'and'theres by leaves the objectfreeto vibrate further.y

In `spring operated vibrators, the 'hammer remains against vthe objectafter the blow is .struck andl thereby prevents further vibration oftheobject land newgenergy must be stored in the spring aftereach strokewhich requires considerable time andQthereby-freducesthe timefactorbetween strokes and consequently, reduces the `effectiveness'- of the vvibrations. i f

In electrically operated? vibrators, i the a 9o magnetic fluxnecessarily `acts vthrough a short air gap and the hammer acts'throughfa short distancev and remains on the object unless released by a springwhich must be compressed andthereby increases the .al-

ready largeelectric current consumption.

I have found that `a pneumatic vibrator does move material in acontainer aswelll as loosen materialjon' walls of a container much vmorequicklyand much more'economically than a mechanical or electric vibratormechanism.

A further advantageous feature of my in- -l rfurther advantage is thatthel vibrator keeps on operating while the door is open Without payingfurther attention tothe same but can be stoppedv while the door is openwhen so desired.

The present inventioneliminates the necessity of all manual means tofacilitate the discharge of material from containers and uses a powermeans to vibrate thewalls of containers to move the material in thecontainers as well as to loosen the material from the walls ofcontainers. The present invention automatically `starts and stops thevibration of the walls of containers as the discharge gates of thecontainersareopened and closed so that the opening and the closing ofthe gates is all that is necessary "tol start and to stop the vibrationof the walls at the propel' time and without unnecessary' rvloss and isperformed without any attention by an operator in either one containeror simultaneously in a plurality of containers. ln order to illustrateImy invention, I have shown the same as embodied in a coal car or larryfor a coke oven and ink a car having a side opening door or gate but Iam aware that my invention can be applied to other cars, or to othercontainers, or to other devices having containers. A

vIn the accompanying drawing Figure'l isa side view of a car embody-vving the features of my invention, designed as a coal charging car forcoke ovens, and shows two coal hoppers' or containers `0n Y the car and'a discharge gateon each container and a" *pneumatically operatedvibrator mechanism on each container and a f hand lever to individuallyopen and close each of the gates anda Avalve operated by theY movementof thev lever to start 'the' operation of the vibrator mechanism whentheV gate is being opened and stop'the operation of theV vibratormechanism when the vgate Fig. 3 is a side view of a portion ofa carembodying the features offmy invention and .having one container with ahinged side door or gate and a vibrator on the container and a powermeans for ,operating lthe Agate and `the vibrator simultaneously.

Similar reference charactersrefer to similar' parts throughout theviews.

Referring now particularly to the car.l

showin in Figs. 1 vand 2 of the drawing:-

The hoppers or containers Aan'd B, each circular cross-sectionally andobliquely conical longitudinally in the "present instance, are mountedon the car C which may have any convenient ordesirablel or necessary Y'appliancesjand has four wheels D runnable on the'tracl E on the top ofthe coke oven F. Each container has the tubular and open ended dischargemember 10 on the lower 19 means of the pivot pin 25.

end lthereof and also has the discharge gate 11 hinged on the member 10by means of the pivot pins 12 and having Vthe central'or middle portion13 thereof extending over the open end of thel discharge member 10. Eachof the gates is arranged so that the portion 18 thereof opens and closesthe open end 4of the member lO'when the gate thereof and the crank19 issecuredfto the pin 17.

The connector 20 has one end thereof hinged onto the gate von thecontainer A by means of the pivot pin 21 and the other end thereofvhinged onto the crank 18 by means of the pivot pin 22. The connector 23has one end thereof hinged onto the gate on the `container B by means ofthe pivotpin 24 and the other end thereof hinged onto the crank Theconnector 26 has one end thereof hinged onto the free endv of 'oneof thellevers 14 by means of the-pivot pin 27 andthe other end thereof hingedonto the crank 18 by means of the pivot pin'28. "The conrnector 29 hasone end lthereof'hinged' onto the 'free end of vthe vother one of thelevers letlby means of the pivot pins 30 and the other end Athereofhinged onto the crank 19 bymeans of the pivoty pin 3:1.

then either one of thev levers 14 is moved on the fulcrum thereof, thecranliand "the connector and the gate connected thereon `movecorrespondingly and swivel -the corresponding gate-fon the lpivotthereof and thereby moves the portion 13 away from `or over the open endo'f the member-10andA thereby opens and lcloses the gate yand the` openendof vthe member 10.

loo

A vibrator G, in the "present instance a y hammer principle, isv vfixedonto the wall of eachV of the containers.

The source v'power for 'the vibrators, the

air -tank H in tle presentl instance, is mounted on the `'car and hasthe discharge pipe 8`2'bifurcating into two lfeed pipes 33 and 34connected to the Vcorresponding ones vof Athe vibrators to suppl-y kthesame-with operating air.

y The valve 35 vis insertcdinto the feed y"pipe 33 and hasthe crankrrotatabie ,Withfthe The. connector 37 operating plug thereof. has oneend thereof hinged clito the Vcrank 36 and the otherend thereof hinged`onto the' corresponding one of ther'levers 14. The valve SSisinserted'into thel feed pipe 34 pn'eumatically operated vibrator ofrany'eon- Vvement Ydesign and operating on fthe-"air and has theV crank39 rotatable with the operating plug thereof. The connector 40 has oneend thereof hinged ontothe crank 39 and the other end thereof hinged`Vonto the corresponding one of the levers 14. i

The cranks on the valves are arranged so that the valves are opened tostart the oper'- ation of the vibrators when the gatesare being openedand to keep the valves open to keep the vibrators in operation while thegates are open and are closed when the gates are closed to stop theoperation of the vi'- brators. "With this arrangement, the vibratorsoperate only when the gates arev open and the starting and the stoppingof the operation of the vibrators is automati cally effected by theopening and .the closing of the gates and requires no particular`attention.

When the vibrators are in operation, the hammer like pounding of thesame vibrates the walls ef the containers and thereby moves the materialin the containers and loosens material which has vadhered to the wallsso that' the containersare emptied completely through the gates on' thelower end thereof and the walls ofthe. containers are cleaned andfreedof adherent material at the same time. Y

In Fig. 3 l have shown a mechanism to voperate the side gates and tostart and to stop lthe operation of the vibrator and to operate thevibrator by means of In this arrangement, the shaft 4l is journaled onthe car and has the pinion 42 rotated by the toothed rack 43 whichterminates into the piston rod 44 which has the piston 45 operable inthe cylinder 46. The crank 47 is secured to the shaft 4l and rotateswith it. The link 48 has one end thereof hinged to the crank 47 and theother' v end thereof hinged to the gate 49. Vhen this arrangement isintended to be used for two containers and two Gates to be o eratedthepipe 54 extends between the other end` l of the interior of thecylinder and the opening 55 in the valve; the pipe 56 extends be'- tweenthe pipe 52 and the vibrator.

The handle 57 is secured to the operating plug 58 of the valve to rotatethe same.

lVhen the handle 57 and the ducts through the operating plug arepositioned as shown,

air enters the lcylinder through the pipe 52 and'moves the piston andthe: rack 43 and thereby rotates the pinion 47 in mesh with the rackandthereby rotates the shaft 4l andthe crank thereon. This movement ofthe crank meves the link and thereby moves or opens the gate. Y

While air is flowing 4into the cylinder through the pipe 52, air alsoflows through. the pipe 56and into the vibrator and'thereby starts theoperation of the vibrator as;

soon as the gate is being opened and main-- tains this operation asjlong as the gate is open or until the valveis .closed by means ofthehandle 57.

*When it is desired to close the' gate, the z operating plugl 58 of thevalve is rotateduntil the ducts :3Q-and 60 are in the positions shown indotted lines whereupon air enters. the cylinder through thepipe 54 andmoves the piston and the rack in the opposite di#V rection and therebycloses thegate. While the gate is being closed and while it is closed,-

the duct 59 is disconnected from .the air vl/Then the operating plug isrotated'part way so that ythe ducts do not align, the vi-` brator isstopped vwhile `thegate is `held open or at least partlyv open.

I am aware vthat changes can be made in' the structureand inthearrangement of the elements shown and described and that my v inventioncan be applied to or embodied in devices or apparatuses lotherthan thetwo applications or embodiments shown and described; therefore, withoutlimiting myself to the precise structure and arrangement ofV elementsshown and described nor to the particular applications and embodimentsof my invention as shown and described,

l claim 1 l. A container having a discharge gate and means for openingthe same and avibrator mechanism having Ya lstarting means operated bysaid gate opening means when said gate is being opened and while thesame is open. v

2. A container having a discharge gate anda vibrator mechanism, meansfor open ing and closing said gate, means for operating said vibratormechanism, and means for starting the operation of said vibrator op'erating means when said gate is being opened and .stopping the operationof said vibrator operating means when saidl gate is being closed. y

3. In combination, a'car, a containeron said car and having apneumatically operated dischargeV gate and a pneumaticallly operatedvibrator mechanism, and means yfor operating said vibrator mechanismonly when said gate is being: opened and while Y the same is open.

4. In combination, a car, a container on said car and having apneumatically opened' and closed gate and a pneumatically operatedvibrator mechanism, and means for operating saidl vibrator mechanismWhen said gate is 4being opened and While the same` is open and stoppingthe operation of said vibrator mechanism when said gate is closed. l Y

5. In combination, a car, a source of pneumatic power on said car', acontainer on said car havinga discharge igate operatedby said source ofpower, and a vibrator mechanism operated by said source of power.

6. In combination, a car, a source of pneumatic power on said car, acontainer on said car having a discharge gate operated by said source ofpower, and a vibrator mechanism operated by said source of powersimultaneously with the` operation of said gate.

7. A coal larry including a plurality of coalcontainers each having adischarge gate and means for opening the same and vibrator mechanism tovibrate the Walls of said containers While coal is being discharged fromsaid containers through said gates.

8. A coal larry including" a plurality of coal containers each having amovable discharge gate, vibrator mechanism on each of said containers,means for opening and closingV said gates,v 'and a one movement meansfor each of said containers adapted to start the operating of-thecorresponding one oi said vibrator mechanisms and to open dischargeVgate for said container, and a valve means adapted to simultaneouslyopen said gatev and` start the operation of ,said vibratorl and tosimultaneously close `said gate and stop the operation of said vibrator.

11. A container, a vibrator mechanism forsaid container, a movabledischarge gate for said container, and means adapted tosimul-v taneouslyopen said gate and start the opy eration oi said vibrator mechanism andto simultaneously close said Vgate and stop the operation of saidvibrator mechanism.

In testimony of the foregoing I` aiix 7my signature. I

EUGENE vv.A soHELr-.ENTRAGER Y

